Had my mind set on a englander 13 but noticed that reguires a R 2.0 hearth which is a lot but i can do it as I am re doing ny hearth but it will cost extra money. So i got to looking and Menards is offering the Century FW3000 and a Drolet Escape 1800 for the same price as the Englander, and these stoves from my understanding only need ember protection. My question is, im only trying to heat roughly 1000 sq.ft but the house is drafty, will either of these stove be to much considering they both say they will heat up to 2000 sq.ft?
Such a thing as too big of a stove?
- Thread starter Brucek1$
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
edyit
Minister of Fire
also from englander and only requiring spark protection
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Summers-Heat-2000-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Stove/999918844
if your house is drafty then a larger stove isn't a bad thing, you can always build a smaller fire in a bigger stove, it's nice to have the extra heating capacity when needed.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Summers-Heat-2000-sq-ft-Wood-Burning-Stove/999918844
if your house is drafty then a larger stove isn't a bad thing, you can always build a smaller fire in a bigger stove, it's nice to have the extra heating capacity when needed.
KindredSpiritzz
Minister of Fire
exactly, i have a big ol Austral and its nice being able to build a small fire with a couple splits when i dont need much heat and then pack it to the gills when its sub zero out. I have a small stove in my cabin and every year i kick myself for not going bigger as im trying to heat the place with that. You'll seldom go wrong going bigger.
Squisher
Minister of Fire
It all depends a lot on your climate and level of insulation.
Too much stove will equal hotter temps, more shoulder season burning were you have to let the fire go out. Maybe more having to crack a window or door when you've overdone it.
And also personal preference will play into it. Members on here have reported from liking low 60's to 80's and all temps in between.
Too much stove will equal hotter temps, more shoulder season burning were you have to let the fire go out. Maybe more having to crack a window or door when you've overdone it.
And also personal preference will play into it. Members on here have reported from liking low 60's to 80's and all temps in between.
Climate where im at is quite cold, not unusual to see a couple weeks where it doesnt get above 0 f., is it a bad thing to run a bigger stove with smaller fires?
CentralVAWoodHeat
Minister of Fire
In my experience, no problem with a bigger stove as you can just build a smaller fire in it. Yes, if it is way too big, smaller fires may not be burning with optimal efficiency. As long as it is installed correctly though, I would opt for the bigger stove.
blacktail
Minister of Fire
![[Hearth.com] Such a thing as too big of a stove?](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/220/220265-1a1c0adb3ee8f290c58edff2194ae6ca.jpg?hash=8bD91rnWio "[Hearth.com] Such a thing as too big of a stove?")
Squisher
Minister of Fire
Better to burn small and hot and ride the heat roller coaster than to try and smoulder a big stove.
I find it easy to burn a smaller load in my stoves if I want to. I am firmly in the big stove camp. Too much stove is a much better problem to have than not enough if you live in a cold climate. I'm not an efficiency maniac though and while I try not to be wasteful I don't mind cracking a door or window for awhile if things get to hot.
Most climates have quite a bit of variation and various 'cold spells' throughout the winter. I prefer to be equipped with firepower that will see me warm through the worst of the worst. As in I'd rather be to warm in milder times than wishing I had more heat when it's really needed.
I find it easy to burn a smaller load in my stoves if I want to. I am firmly in the big stove camp. Too much stove is a much better problem to have than not enough if you live in a cold climate. I'm not an efficiency maniac though and while I try not to be wasteful I don't mind cracking a door or window for awhile if things get to hot.
Most climates have quite a bit of variation and various 'cold spells' throughout the winter. I prefer to be equipped with firepower that will see me warm through the worst of the worst. As in I'd rather be to warm in milder times than wishing I had more heat when it's really needed.
Ok, thanks for all your help, I will be going with the bigger stove just makes sense, its less money, no R value to worry about, and i can still meet the clearances might just need to throw in a adjustable single wall elbow. Only thing im losing with the century fw3000 is it doesnt have a blower, any opinions on this stove?
Yes the 30nc would be to big i beleive, I'd go with the 13nc but its hard to make the hearth requirements. For less money i can get the century fw3000 which is bigger and doesnt reguire the big r value for a hearth, from what ive read i thought the centurys were good stoves, i believe them and drolet are made by the same company
Ok, i think I've made my mind up on the Century FW3000, seems to be the best deal ibe found at $650
Doc C
Minister of Fire
As alot of people here know I fought an Englander 30 for a couple of years. It was WAY too much stove for my 1965 square foot well insulated house. I could not burn small enough fires. I clogged my chimney in 2 months, my windows were always open, I hated my life and I lost a LOT of weight from being in a dry sauna all the time.
I firmly believe that you can go too big,
I switched to the Englander 13 and it heats my house just fine. I never need to turn on my electric heat. I built a nice hearth for it in about a total of 8 hours by myself spread out over a couple days.
I will never go to big of a stove again.
I firmly believe that you can go too big,
I switched to the Englander 13 and it heats my house just fine. I never need to turn on my electric heat. I built a nice hearth for it in about a total of 8 hours by myself spread out over a couple days.
I will never go to big of a stove again.
Last edited:
ratsrepus
Minister of Fire
A wise old Indian once said, silly white man build big fire sit far away, Indian build small fire sit close
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Non-cat stoves can work great, when your heating requirement is larger, but I’m really convinced they’re a poor choice when your heat requirements are low. Bottom line, they just can’t turn down far enough, so you’re left feeding a small stove too many times per day, or overheating yourself with a too-big stove. Even worse off, are those who go big, and then find they can never run it as intended, trying to limp along as Doc did with his former stove.
A cat stove excels at these low heat requirements. One of the newer additions to my house is just a little larger than your house, and well insulated, so our heating needs are probably similar, there. I put a 2.7 cu ft cat stove in there, and only need to load it once every 24 hours, in our normal (20F-35F) winter weather. It just eeks out perfectly even heat, all day and all night, on one load. When it’s warmer in spring and fall, I turn it down even farther, and can stretch out 36 hour burns.
An NC-13 might be good for quick ambience fires on a Friday evening, but it’s not a practical heater, IMO. You’d have to load that little thing 3x per day!
A cat stove excels at these low heat requirements. One of the newer additions to my house is just a little larger than your house, and well insulated, so our heating needs are probably similar, there. I put a 2.7 cu ft cat stove in there, and only need to load it once every 24 hours, in our normal (20F-35F) winter weather. It just eeks out perfectly even heat, all day and all night, on one load. When it’s warmer in spring and fall, I turn it down even farther, and can stretch out 36 hour burns.
An NC-13 might be good for quick ambience fires on a Friday evening, but it’s not a practical heater, IMO. You’d have to load that little thing 3x per day!
Doc C
Minister of Fire
I stopped using btu ratings and square foot ratings. I only look at the box size now. I am heating just under 2000 square foot house with a 1.8 CF box. Granted my house I would guess is probably in the top 10% of houses when it comes to insulation and air sealing. Several feet of attic insulation, all new windows and doors, andy house feels more like 1600 square feet because it's compact and 2 story.
The problem with smaller boxes is its hard to keep a fire for 8 hours.
The problem I found with larger boxes is it requires a certain amount of heat in the box to move enough air to get a good enough draft to get a clean burn.
You might get lucky with a 2.4 CF box and have the perfect balance and maybe your insulation is poor enough that you can get away with a bigger box.
There are so many variables and everyone has different experiences that it's hard to know without trying.
Doc C
Minister of Fire
We almost always agree and in a way we do agree here except I think maybe you worded it differently then I would have.
The 13 is a fantastic heater! I can cook myself out of the house if I want.....but I will load it 7 times doing it!
That is the problem with a small box. I can load the stove, close it down, and have to reload it in 4 hours if I want it to keep pumping heat out.
I can still have coals 7-8 hours later but there is not much heat after about 4. I would argue that a small fire in a large stove will do the same thing though.
It really is a shame that cat stoves are out of the price range of alot of folks because they really can solve alot of the problems.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
You are right, I shouldn’t have cast my own limitations on others. My biggest limitation is that I’m not home all day to feed a stove several times, so when I say it’s not a practical heater, it’s from that perspective. If you have someone home frequently during the day, it certainly can work just fine.
My situation is that I am really only home to feed the stove(s) once or twice per day. My “not a practical heater” comment came from that perspective.
Thanks for the input guys, ill explain some on what im looking to get out of my new stove. Im not home all day to feed the stove like some so really it mainly gets used from the time i get home in the evening until bed and then on the weekends we try to heat all with wood as we are around more often. Right now with our current stove we are filling it probaly every 2 hours if were lucky so im looking for something that possibly in the evenings i could load it once or twice. My main worry with a larger stove is running to choked and creosote buildup? If i go with a bigger stove could i get away with just loading it one time or so to get the temp i desire instead of choking it down with small fires?
Bootstrap
Burning Hunk
I like my Drolet 1800i. I have the insert model and it didn't take me long to have it figured out. I frequently run hot burns to clean out the chimney from low burns. That said, even with low burns it seems that the smoke coming out the chimney isn't bad at all. If I am in a rush to get out of the house for one reason or the other and just load it up and go, then the smoke is worse, but still not bad at all.. But if I do it properly where I ramp it up, load it, let the new logs catch then turn it down it seems to burn a lot cleaner with no visible smoke at all.
The stove isn't my primary source of heat. We have an oil boiler with baseboards. The boiler still runs but I definitely extend tank fill intervals.
This winter so far was the worst one I can ever remember experiencing with coldness. We went through a half tank of oil (275 gallon tank) in 8 weeks versus most people who went through one whole tank in that time with a couple friends going through two 330 gallon tanks, 660 gallons of oil!!.
The temps in that time period were freakishly cold though, lows in the -10 area. Kind of unheard of around here.
Im not gonna argue cat vs non cat. No doubt a cat stove would idle better than this one does. If not tremendously better. But for what we need this fits out needs well and was very affordable. The whole kit delivered to my house was $1600 and included the stove, stainless steel liner and chimney cap.
Its fire box is only 1.81 cubic feet so it best functions as supplemental heating. my house is a 1760 square foot cape cod style house with 4 bedrooms. I do use a small circulator fan to help move some of the heat around and on days where the highs are in the lower 30's the furnace will hardly run at all.
The stove isn't my primary source of heat. We have an oil boiler with baseboards. The boiler still runs but I definitely extend tank fill intervals.
This winter so far was the worst one I can ever remember experiencing with coldness. We went through a half tank of oil (275 gallon tank) in 8 weeks versus most people who went through one whole tank in that time with a couple friends going through two 330 gallon tanks, 660 gallons of oil!!.
The temps in that time period were freakishly cold though, lows in the -10 area. Kind of unheard of around here.
Im not gonna argue cat vs non cat. No doubt a cat stove would idle better than this one does. If not tremendously better. But for what we need this fits out needs well and was very affordable. The whole kit delivered to my house was $1600 and included the stove, stainless steel liner and chimney cap.
Its fire box is only 1.81 cubic feet so it best functions as supplemental heating. my house is a 1760 square foot cape cod style house with 4 bedrooms. I do use a small circulator fan to help move some of the heat around and on days where the highs are in the lower 30's the furnace will hardly run at all.
Similar threads
